There’s a double George R. Stewart connection here. Stewart spent his boyhood in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where his grandfather helped found what is now Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Ed Abbey was born in Indiana, and attended Indiana University for a time.

So it would seem that the stars have aligned, and the George R. Stewart has found a fine home.

Recently, KNPR invited me to do an interview about George R. Stewart. The emphasis was on his Nevada-based work, but we also talked about Earth Abides, and about how GRS and I met. If you’d like to listen to the interview, here’s a link to the mp3 archive:

Stewart Scholar Robert Lyon has decided to sell his excellent collection of George R. Stewart material — books, some original letters, manuscripts, copies of papers, and so on. It is a milestone in this saga of researching and writing about Stewart.

Bob Lyon was one of the first scholars to encourage the study of Stewart’s work. He did this by organizing a group of English professors, booksellers, writers, and others into The Friends of George R. Stewart. The Friends met during conferences of the Western Literature Association, presented papers relating to Stewart’s work, and then enjoyed informal talks over comestibles (ubiquitous and otherwise) and potent or not-so-potent potables. They also enjoyed other gatherings — also with food and drink — notably around the visit of The Pilgrim, Steve Williams, who came from England in 986 to study Stewart’s work. Members included author Ferol Egan, Fine Press owner and Earth Abides Hero Alan Ligda, Attorney Frank Sloss, Ted (Theodosia) Stewart, myself, producer of fine printing Vic Moitoiret, and others.

Bob thus played a key role in the ongoing process of enlightenment and encouragement which helped lead to The Life and Truth of George R. Stewart. But, as we all must, he has decided to insure that his fine collection will go to others who will appreciate it, learn from it, and then pass it on to future Stewart scholars.

While saddened by the dispersal of Bob’s collection, I am glad to see that it will now be available for others to cherish and study and take inspiration from.

Amazon is now carrying the new biography of George R. Stewart: The Life and Truth of George R. Stewart. The price is the same as that of McFarland. I’d still recommend buying directly from McFarland, but for those of you who prefer Amazon, you may now use that source.